


The Great Pumpkin Kiss

by Hillbilly_Leprechaun



Series: Summer Slalom 2018 [9]
Category: Peanuts
Genre: F/M, It's the Great Pumpkin, prompt word: illusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 18:41:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15370911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hillbilly_Leprechaun/pseuds/Hillbilly_Leprechaun
Summary: Linus wants Sally to wait with him for the Great Pumpkin.





	The Great Pumpkin Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Fandom: Peanuts  
> Pairing: Sally/Linus  
> Prompt Word: Illusion

Fifteen-year-old and ever the child, Linus van Pelt makes a running jump and lands in a large pile of multicolored Autumn leaves. His sixteen-year-old sister Lucy flips a football in the air and catches it. She quickly finds her greatest rival, Charlie Brown by the wall circling the town park.

 

“Say, I've got a football. How about practicing a few place kicks? I'll hold the ball and you come running and kick it.”

 

Charlie shakes his head in disbelief. “I don't mind your dishonesty half as much as I mind your opinion of me. You must think I'm stupid.”

 

“Oh, come on. I’ll hold it steady.” She promises with her fingers crossed behind his back.

 

He rolls his eyes. “You just want me to come running up to kick that ball... ...so you can pull it away and see me land flat on my back and kill myself.”

 

She smiles politely and holds out a piece of paper. “This time you can trust me. See, here's a signed document...testifying that I promise not to pull it away.”

 

Charlie takes the paper and eyes it suspiciously. Lucy has been finding loopholes throughout their friendship, and now Charlie is planning on being a lawyer. He hands it back to her.

 

“It is signed. It's a signed document. I guess if you have a signed document in your possession, you can't go wrong.” When she forms a smirk, he continues, wiping the smirk from her face. “Peculiar thing about this document: it was never notarized.”

 

Lucy grabs the paper from him in frustration. Lucy, one hundred; Charlie, first of many. Hours later, Charlie Brown’s sister of fifteen years Sally wanders up to Linus. He’s sitting at his desk, writing a letter.

 

“Who are you writing to?”

 

“This is the time of the year to write to the Great Pumpkin. On Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises out of his pumpkin patch... and flies through the air with his bag of toys for all the children.”

 

All the kids in town have been ridiculing him for years. He almost managed to bring Sally along nine years ago, but at the last minute, she turned him down in favor of trick-or-treating. He never tells anyone what he’s doing around Halloween. Most of them know, but Sally is the only one who doesn’t laugh. When they were kids, she fawned over him, and he would hide from her under his bright blue security blanket. He still has the blanket, all worn and ripped now, though he doesn’t take it everywhere. She still fawns over him, but not to as much extent.

 

“Wouldn't you like to sit with me in the pumpkin patch on Halloween night ...and wait for the Great Pumpkin?”

 

“Oh, I’d love to, Linus.” She smiles, kissing his cheek lightly.

 

Charlie walks into the room, waving two invitations in the air. “Hey, we got invitations to a Halloween party.”

 

“Whose?”

 

“Violet’s,” Charlie answers in a disbelieving tone. “First I stopped Lucy from kicking away the football, and now we’ve been invited to one of Violet’s parties.”

 

“You can go if you want,” Linus tells Sally.

 

“No, I’d rather go to the pumpkin patch with my sweet babboo.”

 

Linus blushes at the mention of her childhood nickname for him, though he no longer denies it. Lucy walks into the room, wearing a suggestive witch costume. Her best friend Violet s behind her, in a cheerleader outfit. It isn’t a costume per say, which Linus points out.

 

“So? I’ll add ketchup. Or red food dye. What are you going to be? Oh, that’s right. You’re going to stay in a pumpkin patch to find some pumpkin creature. You are strange.”

 

“We’re just here to pick up anyone going to the party. Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Pigpen are waiting outside.”

 

“What are they dressed as?” Charlie asks, throwing on a bedsheet with too many holes.

 

“Patty’s the Wicked Witch and Marcie’s Glinda. And I think Pigpen’s a goat. What are _you_ supposed to be?”

 

“… I had a little trouble with the scissors.”

 

A good hour later, Sally and Linus are sitting together on a picnic blanket in the middle of a sincere pumpkin patch. The other teenagers have gathered everyone. They’re trick-or-treating in the best neighborhood in town before starting up the party. Walking back to Violet’s house, costumes and masks are lifted so everyone can see one another. They each dive into their bags and pull out something they got from the awesome haunted house that was last on the list.

 

“I got five pieces of candy,” Lucy reports.

 

“I got a whole chocolate bar.” Violet shows them.

 

“I got a dollar!” Peppermint Patty grins.

 

“I got a peanut bar.” Marcie smiles.

 

“Boy, I got three cookies.” Franklin is happy.

 

“Hey, I got a package of gum.” Pigpen opens the pack.

 

“I got a popcorn ball.” Schroeder lifts his Beethoven mask.

 

“Mmm… I got a fudge bar.” Shermy looks over the crowd.

 

The teenagers look over to Charlie Brown, anticipating whatever treat he’s received. Unfortunately, it seems the good luck was just a passing illusion. He digs in and shows what the rich house had given him,

 

“I got a rock.”

 

The teenagers look away awkwardly. Violet starts up the music, while Lucy asks if anyone wants to bob for apples. A small crowd gathers, and Marcie asks who wants to go first.

 

“Let Lucy go first,” Schroeder confirms. “She’s good at it. She has the perfect mouth for it.”

 

Lucy blushes, though she’s unsure whether or not that was meant to be a compliment. She ties her hair back and dives into the apple bucket. Seconds later, she retracts in disgust. Snoopy pops up sheepishly.

 

“My lips touched dog lips! Baugh! Augh! Poisoned dog lips!”

 

She runs off to sanitize her mouth, and Violet cranks up the music. The apple crate is turned over, and Snoopy hightails it out of there. Yet another hour later, the teenagers are enjoying themselves with candy, punch, and music. In the pumpkin patch, Sally kisses Linus sweetly and lies down next to him on the blanket. Suddenly, an alarming rustling is heard over the hushed Halloween night silence.

 

“I hear the Great Pumpkin. There he is. There he is.” Linus holds close to Sally, shaking in excitement. “It's the Great Pumpkin. He's rising up out of the pumpkin patch.”

 

A haunting silhouette appears over the pumpkin patch. Larger by the light of the full moon, the creature rises, with a pumpkin for a head and a loose scarf flying in the wind. The teenagers’ eyes widen in a mix of shock and incredulity. Neither of them notices a little yellow bird fluttering around in the air. Neither of them notices the bird getting his foot caught in the scarf, unintentionally unraveling the disguise – to reveal Snoopy. The beagle chuckles embarrassedly before stepping down from a small crate that he had turned on its side. He sets the pumpkin down, barking at his little flying friend for ruining the surprise. He then moves along after recovering his Flying Ace scarf. A little thought bubble appears over his head. _Penn and Teller, here I come_ …

 

Back on the blanket, Linus sighs in defeat. He moves to pack up the picnic and blanket, ashamed for getting all worked up over a little prank his best friend’s beagle had cooked up. He feels frustrated for being tricked so easily, but he is even more irritated that he dragged Sally into another unfulfilled embarrassment again. He notices Sally adjusting her hair bow as if she’s about to lay into him. By the time they’re on their feet, she begins to speak.

 

“If anyone had told me ten years ago I'd be waiting......in a pumpkin patch on Halloween night......I'd have said they were crazy.” Sally smiles when Linus opens his mouth to counteract her statement, and she kisses him, so she can continue her thought. “But tonight, there’s nowhere I’d rather be.”


End file.
